Insect electrocution apparatus construction



Dec. 22, 1959 Filed 'Feb 5 1958 W. R. ANDERSON ETAL INSECT ELECTROCUTIONAPPARATUS CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I mvzmbgs. WLLl/JM H.fl/vazeso/v,

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w. R. ANDERSON ETAL 2,917,863

INSECT ELECTROCUTION APPARATUS CONSTRUCTION Dec. 22, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet2 Filed Feb. 5. 1958 q & T T

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United. States. Patent INSECT ELECTROCUTION APPARATUS CONSTRUCTIONWilliam R, Anderson, Santa Ana, and Neil G. Dodson,

Orange, Calif.,.assignors to. Blue. Spark,Inc., Orange, Calif acorporation, of California,

The present invention relates generally to improve.

ments in construction of apparatus, for the electrocution of insects,and is a continuation-in-part of the application entitled InsectElectrocution Apparatus, Serial No. 501,642, filed April 15, 1955, nowUnited States. Letters Patent No. 2,821,806, issued February 4, 1958.

The structure disclosed in the patent above referred to, contemplatesgenerally the provision of a group of conductors extending in parallelrelation longitudinally of a building such as a hen house or the likewhere the insect problem, particularly of flies, is especially acute. Atleast one of the conductors is electrically charged, at a. high voltage,and the remaining conductors are spaced from the charged conductor orconductors. by a sufficient distance to prevent electrical breakdown forthe voltage used. The conductors are maintained in their correctrelative position by a series of mounting or spacer in-. sulator blockshaving holes. therethrough for receiving the conductors in spacedrelation. The conductors are connected at their ends to an insulatormounting block, desirably including resilient springs in order tomaintain the conductors under tension.

It is essential for the. operation. of the, apparatus that no shortcircuit be, permitted between the charged conductor and remainingconductors. Accordingly, in. order to prevent the possibility that thebody of an; electrocuted insect might be effectively fried upon theinsulator block surface and thus substantially decrease the resistancebetween conductors, the present invention provides an improved design ofthe insulator blocks and also ring or sleeve members carried by the.conductors by which to insure that insects walking on the conductorswill beelectrocuted at a distance from the blocks. ratherthanimmediately adjacent thereto.

Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred construc-. tion ofthepresent invention, there is provided at either end of' a building,immediately beneath the roof thereof, agenerally U,-shaped metallicbracket, open upwardly, to, which a number of grounded conductors may beattached, desirably by means of, resilient spring members in order tomaintain the desired tension upon the conductors. Additionally, thebracket is provided with means such as a flat member extending acrossthe upper open. portion thereof serving as an anchoring means for aninsulator to which is attached an electrified conductor which, inaccordance with the present invention, is adapted to be, virtuallysurrounded by the grounded conductors through-- out the extent of theapparatus.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention todisclose a novel electrocution apparatus construction. Further objectsand purposes of the invention are to disclose insect electrocutionapparatus of the character described wherein a group of'conductorsextend in parallel relation longitudinally of'a building, such con;

ductors being grounded and generally surrounding a parallel conductoradapted to be electrically energized with high voltage; to discloseapparatus of the character referred to having end bracket supportmembers of novelconstruction particularly adapted to economically and.rigidly support the ends of conductors under tension, and to facilitateretaining the end portions of the con-- ductors in assembled relationwith the rafters or similar; structural members of a building; toprovide in apparatus of the character referred to cylindrical sleevemembersadapted to minimize the possibility of an insects beingelectrocuted on the surface of insulator members; to disclose, in insectelectrocution apparatus, spacer insulator members having surfacesparticularly configured to minimize the deposit of short-circuitingmaterial thereon; andfor other and additional purposes and objects aswill become clear from a study of the following description of apreferred embodiment of the invention taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of portions of the roof raftersand ridge board of a building showing apparatus according to one form ofthe present invention installed thereon.

Fig. 2 is a view taken along the line IIII of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view on an enlarged scale, looking upwardly of thestructure of Fig. 1, modified by thead'-= dition of cylindrical sleevemembers carried on the cons. ductors.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV"-+-IV of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view taken on line V-V of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view, on a small scale. and with acentral longitudinal portion omitted, of roof and end rafters having theapparatus of thepresent in vention mounted thereon.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of the insulatingspacer as seen in Fig. 4.

Referring now in detail to Fig. 1 of the drawings there is indicatedgenerally at 10 an upper corner portion of. a building structure, theroof proper being omitted for clarity of illustration. Thus the portionof the structure. shown includes an end rafter 12, a ridge board 14and". vertically extending upright support members 16 and 18'. It willbe understood that the structural members referred to are illustrativeonly of one form of conventional build lng design and in no Way are tobe taken as limiting the. scope of the present invention. The ridgeboard 14. may: extend centrally longitudinally of the building and have.fixed thereto a number of roof rafters in accordance with. knownconstruction, one of such rafters being indicated: at 20.

Afiixed to the end rafter 12 is a conventional trans.- former 22 adaptedto be energized by input leads 24 con nected to a suitable source ofalternating current 26. The". output of transformer 22 is a relativelyhigh voltage, de-

. sirably from about 4,000 to about 5,000 volts, one output extendingfrom end rafter 12 at one end of the building:

to end rafter 13 at the opposite end. In the present illus tration thegroup 34 includes four angularly spaced con,- ductors identified as 37,38, 39 and 40, the latter conductors being desirably evenly spaced aboutthe central conductor 36 at the vertices of a, regular polygon, inthepresent instance a square. Desirably, the sides of the square arebetween about each of the outer conductors 37, 38, 39 and 40 beingspaced from the inneror central conductor 36 by approximately inch,although the precise dimensions may be varied somewhat from thesefigures depending upon the voltage desired to be used.

Throughout the major portion of the length of the conductor group 34 theconductors are maintained in parallel relation as shown in Fig. 6 by anumber of spacer members disposed at intervals longitudinally of theconductor group. Two of the spacer members are indicated generally at 42in Fig. 6 and each consists generally of rigid block of insulatingdielectric material such as ceramic or the like having a plurality ofopenings extending therethrough for receiving the various conductorssupported by the block.

- As best appears in Figs. 3, 4 and 7, the spacer member 42 includes apair of parallel faces 43 and 44 and openings for slidably receiving andsupporting the conductors extending through the block from one of thefaces to the other. Thus there is a central opening 46 and (see Fig.additional openings spaced from the central opening 46 and identified as47, 48, 49 and 50 which receive the respective conductors 37, 38, 39 and40.

a A preferred construction of the openings extending through the block42 is shown in Fig. 4 and will be best seen in the enlarged view of Fig.7. As there appears, theopening 46 includes a central cylindricalportion 52 having a diameter only slightly larger than that of theconductor 36 passing therethrough. From either end of the cylindricalportion 52 and extending outwardly to the respective faces 43 and 44 thewalls defining the opening 46 diverge outwardly as seen at 54 and 56,the divergent portions being desirably substantially frusto-conical inconfiguration. The other openings extending through the spacer block 42are desirably similarly configured as seen in dotted outline in the caseof openings 49 and 50 slidablyhousing conductors 39 and 40 respectivelyas seen in Fig. 7.

The configuration of the openings as just described is desirable inminimizing the possibility that the body of a dead insect electrocutedby the present apparatus might become effectively fried on the surfaceof the spacer 42, thereby tending to short-circuit the voltage appearingbetween the central conductor 36 and any of the exterior conductors 37,38, 39 or 40. Thus, with the construction just described in connectionwith the spacer block 42, it is virtually impossible for an insect to beso electrocuted by the apparatus of the present invention that its bodywould be deposited upon the frusto-conical portions of any of theopenings extending through the block 42, since electrocution would haveoccurred before the insect could crawl into the opening. Moreover, evenif it were possible for an insect to be electrocuted within an opening,it is unlikely, by reason of the relatively large size of the outeropenings, that the body of such an insect would be deposited upon thefiat surfaces 43 or 44 so as to sufficiently shorten the air gapexisting between the charged conductor and the grounded conductors.

In order to mount the group of conductors 34 in a desired relationshipimmediately beneath the roof of a building or the like, mounting membersmay be provided having lower portions similar to the blocks 42 justdescribed and including an upwardly projecting leg by which to provideattachment to a roof structural member. Thus in Figs. 1, 3 and 4, thegroup of conductors 34 is sup ported from transverse rafter by means ofa mounting member indicated generally at 60 having a lower portionindicated generally at 62 corresponding in construetion to spacer block42 previously described, the mounting member including also an upwardlyprojecting leg 64 which may be provided with an opening for receiving amounting screw or the like 66 engaging the rafter 20.

For optimum performance of the structure of the 92 inch and -75 inch,with T present invention it is desirable that the various conductors bemaintained throughout their length in sub stantially the samerelationship as is established by the various mounting or spacer blockssuch as 42 and 62 at spaced intervals throughout the length of abuilding. Thus it becomes necessary to maintain the several conductorsunder a substantial degree of tension in order to'minimize the movementof the conductors which might give rise to a short circuit at pointsbetween the spacer and mounting blocks. A preferred form of tensionmembers and mounting means therefor in accordance with the presentinvention is shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4. As best appears in Fig. 2, amounting bracket indicated generally at 70 is attached to the lowersurface 71 of structural member 12 by a pair of fastening members 72.The mounting bracket itself 70 desirably includes a flat portion 74adapted to extend immediately beneath the rafter 12 and a lower portionindicated generally at 76 formed in generally U-shaped configurationhaving side walls 77 and 78 connected by a yoke 79, each of the sidewalls 77 and 78 including at their upper ends an outwardly turned flangeportion 81 and 82 respectively. Openings are formed in the flangeportion 81and 82 to register with similar openings in the flat portion74 for receiving the fastening elements 72. The entire bracket 70, beingmade of metal, is electrically conductive and is grounded through a lead84 which is connected at one end to the fastening element 72 and at itsother end is connected to the end of the high voltage side of thetranformer which is grounded through the conductor 26. Thus the entiremetal framework constituting the mounting bracket 70 is maintained atground potential. The base portion 74 of the bracket 70 includes a lip88 projecting from beneath the rafter 12 and an elongated insulatormember indicated generally at 90 and made of dielectric material isattached at one end to the lip 88, desirably by a fastening element 92passing through openings or apertures formed in the end portion of theinsulator 90 and in the lip 88. The other end of the insulator member 90is similarly provided with an aperture extending therethrough and afastening element 94 serves to attach one end of a tension spring 96 tothe end of the insulator member 90. Desirably, the fastening bolt 94 islong enough to permit the attachment thereto of the end of electricallead 30 carrying the high voltage electricity from transformer 22. Theother end of spring 96 is connected to the central conductor 36 and thusthat conductor is energized electrically by voltage in lead 30.

The bracket 70 is provided with means for fastening thereto by resilienttension members the grounded con ductors among the group of conductors34. In accordance with the preferred construction of the presentinvention the tension members connecting each of the grounded conductorsto the frame of the bracket 70 are of metallic construction and henceare themselves electrically conductive. Thus, with particular referenceto Fig. 3, metal coil springs 97, 98, 99 and are connected to conductors37, 38, 39 and 40 respectively, and are fastened at their other ends tothe U-shaped portion 76 of the bracket 70. Each of the springs includesrounded hook end portions which can either directly engage openingsformed in the bracket portion 76, or can be fastened by metallicfastening elements passing through such openings. It is to be noted thatthe springs 98 and 99 are fastened at their ends to the side walls 78and 77 respectively, while springs 97 and 100 are fastened to the yokeportion 79 of the U-shaped bracket. By this configuration the groundedmetallic springs are maintained at a sufficiently great distance fromthe charged conductor 36 and the metallic spring 96 connected thereto toprevent any sparking or arcing over between the charged conductor andspring and any of the grounded qsduct r am! a rin There may be providedin accordance with the present invention means additional to or in placeof the preferred configuration of the openings in the dielectric spacermembers for minimizing the possibility that the electrocuted body of aninsect might become afiixed to the dielectric surface of one of thespacers. Thus, with particular reference to Figs. 4 and 5, cylindricalsleeves 106 and 108 are mounted upon the conductor group 34 adjacentspacer block 42 and mounting block 60 respectively. The sleeves aredesirably made of material sufficiently rigid to maintain theircylindrical shapes shown, and may be made of metal since they contactonly the grounded conductors 37, 38, 39 and 40. The sleeves have aninside diameter such that they frictionally contact the groundedconductors, and the sleeves may be easily slid along the conductors whendesired. It will be seen that, with the sleeves in place as shown inFigs. 3 and 4, any insect such as a fly attempting to crawl along aconductor into a sleeve will be electrocuted long before arrival at thesurface of the blocks 42 or 60. Since the frictional engagement of thesleeves with the conductors permits them to be easily slid, cleaning ofthe conductors, sleeves and spacer and mounting blocks is facilitated.

It will thus be seen that the present invention constitutes improvementsin electrocution apparatus, particularly in making such apparatus moreeconomical in construction and more foolproof in operation andmaintenance. It is to be understood that the specific forms of theinvention herein disclosed are illustrative only,

and that minor departures therefrom do not avoid the Y scope of theappended claims.

We claim:

'1. In insect electrocution apparatus for mounting beneath and adjacentthe roof of a building, in combination: a mounting bracket of rigid,electrically conductive material including a fiat base connected to thelower surface of a roof support member and a downwardly offset portionfixed to the base, a plurality of openings being formed in the offsetportion adjacent one edge thereof; an elongated rod of dielectricmaterial having one end fastened to said base and projecting parallelthereto; an elongated resilient member connected to the other end of therod and extending in prolongation thereof; a plurality of elongatedresilient, electrically conductive members attached to the bracket bysaid openings and projecting outwardly from the bracket in approximateparallel relation with the rod and first named resilient member; amounting block of dielectric material spaced from said bracket andadapted to be fastened toa roof support structure and project downwardlytherefrom, the block having a plurality of horizontal openingstherethrough disposed at apexes of a regular polygon and an additionalopening centrally of the polygon; wires extending through said pluralityof openings and connected to the outer ends of said plurality ofresilient members; a conductor extending through said additional openingand connected to the first named resilient member; means forelectrically grounding said bracket; means for connecting said conductorto a source of high voltage lower than the breakdown voltage between theconductor and wires; and means for maintaining the wires and conductorunder tension.

2. The invention as stated in claim 1 wherein said block is providedwith a pair of spaced parallel faces.

3. The invention as stated in claim 2 including cylindrical sleevescarried on said wires in circumscribed relation with said polygon, anannular end of each sleeve contacting one of said faces.

4. The invention as stated in claim 1 wherein said openings includesubstantially cylindrical central portions and outwardly divergingfrusto-conical end portions com municating therewith.

5. The invention as stated in claim 4 wherein the portions of theopenings are coaxially aligned.

6. Insect electrocution apparatus comprising: a'iongitudinally extendingelectrical conductor and plurality of wires; means supporting the wiresand conductor in'spa'ced' parallel relation with the wires at apexes ofa regular polygon and the conductor disposed centrally of the poly-- gonapproximately of an inch from the wires; means for electricallygrounding said wires; and means for electrically charging said conductorwith a voltage slightly below the breakdown voltage for the distancebetween the conductor and wires.

7. The invention as stated in claim 6 wherein said supporting meansincludes a rigid member of dielectric material provided with a pluralityof openings extending therethrough for receiving said conductor andwires.

8. The invention as stated in claim 7 wherein said openings includesubstantially cylindrical central portions and outwardly divergingfrusto-conical end portions communicating therewith.

9. The invention as stated in claim 7 wherein said openings includecentral portions of diameters slightly larger than the respective wiresand conductor received therein, and outer portions havingcross-sectional dimensions substantially greater than said diameters.

10. The invention as stated in claim 9 wherein said rigid member isprovided with a pair of spaced parallel faces and including cylindricalsleeves carried on said wires in circumscribed relation with saidpolygon, an annular end of each sleeve contacting one of said faces.

11. The invention as stated in claim 7 wherein said rigid member isprovided with a pair of spaced parallel faces and including cylindricalsleeves carried on said wires in circumscribed relation with saidpolygon, an annular end of each sleeve contacting one of said faces.

12. In an insect electrocution apparatus including a conductor adaptedto be connected to a high voltage source and a plurality of groundedwires parallel to the conductor and equally spaced therefrom anddisposed around the conductor at substantially equal angular intervalsand an insulator block of dielectric material having openingstherethrough for receiving and so supporting the conductor and wires,the provision of a hollow cylin drical sleeve supported by said wires incircumscribed relation, one end of the sleeve being juxtaposed with aface of the insulator block.

13. In an insect eelctrocution apparatus including an insulator supportblock of dielectric material provided with parallel faces and aplurality of openings formed therethrough substantially defining apexesof a regular polygon and an opening disposed centrally of the polygon, aconductor connectable to a high voltage source extending through thecentral opening and supported therein and grounded wires extendingthrough said plurality of openings and supported therein, the provisionof a hollow cylindrical sleeve supported by said wires and abuttableagainst a face of said block.

14. In insect electrocution apparatus for mounting beneath and adjacentthe roof of a building, in combination: a mounting bracket of rigid,electrically conductive material including a U-shaped portion attachedto a roof support member and projecting downwardly therefrom; aplurality of wires connected to spaced points along an edge of saidU-shaped portion; means spaced from said bracket for maintaining saidwires substantially at apexes of a regular polygon; means forelectrically grounding said bracket; and an electrically chargedconductor disposed virtually at the center of said polygon, the polygonbeing of such size that the conductor is spaced from said wires by notmore than about /2 inch, and the voltage charging the conductor beingslightly below the breakdown value for the spacing between conductor andwires.

15. Insect electrocution apparatus comprising: a longitudinallyextending electrical conductor and plurality of wires; means supportingthe wires and conductor in spaced parallel relation with the wires atapexes of a regular polygon and the conductor disposed centrally of 7the polygon and spaced from the wires by a distance grounding saidwires; and means for electrically charging greaterthan the breakdowndistance for the voltage used, said conductor with a voltage slightlybelow the breakbut close enough that an-insect such as a fly on a wiredown voltagefor the distance between the conductor and or the conductorwill-effectively shorten the gap between wires. a wire and the conductorto permit a flow of electrocu- 5 No references cited.

tion current for a short period; means for electrically

